1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a checkout system for recognizing an article based on the article code affixed to the respective article.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, large-scale stores such as supermarkets utilize Point of Sales (POS) systems to enhance the rationalization of service. For example, a checkout apparatus used as a terminal of the POS system is disclosed in Jpn. Pat. KOKAI Publication No. 4-67291. In this type of checkout apparatus, as shown in FIG. 1, a bar code scanner 1 is arranged between a carry-in conveyor 2 and a carry-out conveyor 3 and an electronic cash register 4 is disposed near one side of the carry-out conveyor 3. The bar code scanner 1 has a keyboard 1a for inputting an article code and a display 1b for displaying the result of inputting.
When a customer 10 comes to the carry-in conveyor 2 side while pushing a shopping cart 11 in which to-be-purchased articles are received, the customer places the articles on the carry-in conveyor 2 one by one and then moves towards the carry-out conveyor 3 as indicated by an arrow. The carry-in conveyor 2 sequentially carries the articles placed one at a time by the customer 10 towards the bar code scanner 1. An article sensor 5 detects an article carried to the end portion of the carry-in conveyor 2 which is adjacent to the bar code scanner 1. The carry-in conveyor 2 stops at the time of detection of the article and is driven again to carry the next article after the article is taken up from the carry-in conveyor 2 by an operator 6. The operator 6 puts the article in a scanning range of the bar code scanner 1 so as to permit the bar code scanner 1 to read the article code affixed to the taken-up article in the bar code form. If the article code is not affixed to the article or the bar code scanner 1 fails to read the article code, the article code is input to the bar code scanner 1 by use of the keyboard 1a. The carry-out conveyor 3 carries the article placed thereon by the operator in a direction away from the bar code scanner 1. The electronic cash register 4 registers the sales article based on the article code supplied from the bar code scanner 1, derives the total sum of money for all of the sold articles when the operator 8 operates the total key, and issues a receipt having the total sum of money printed thereon. The customer 10 pays money for the articles to the operator 8, moves the purchased articles from the carry-out conveyor 3 into the shopping cart 11, and then leaves the checkout apparatus. The driving speeds of the carry-in conveyor 2 and carry-out conveyor 3 can be adjusted by use of control switches 7 and 9 which are respectively disposed near the operators 6 and 8.
In the above checkout apparatus, a partition rod 12 is used to separate the purchased articles for respective customers 10 and previously placed near the carry-in conveyor 2. The customer 10 puts the partition rod 12 on the carry-in conveyor 2 after all of the articles purchased by the customer are placed. The operator 6 moves the partition rod 12 from the carry-in conveyor 2 to the carry-out conveyor 3 and the operator 8 recognizes that the partition rod 12 is carried on the carry-out conveyor 3 and then operates the total key of the electronic cash register 4.
However, since the above checkout apparatus is so constructed that two workers are engaged as operators for the bar code scanner 1 and the electronic cash register 4, it is sometimes difficult to increase the number of checkout apparatuses when taking the labor cost into consideration. Further, in the above checkout apparatus, a troublesome operation that the partition rod 12 which has been moved to the carry-out conveyor side must be moved back to the carry-in conveyor side is required.